‘Sometimes Very Emotionally Involved’

New to London Book Fair, the Wellcome Book Prize’s shortlist was announced Tuesday (March 14) at the English PEN Salon, with several members of its high-caliber jury on-hand.

The Wellcome prize is for both fiction and nonfiction work that has, according to prize materials, “a central theme that engages with some aspect of medicine, health or illness. This can cover many genres of writing – including crime, romance, popular science, sci-fi and history.”

It’s an interesting approach, this search for stories that turn on “brushes with medicine” that “add new meaning to what it means to be human,” per the prize commentary.

Presented by the Wellcome Trust, founded by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936, the prize program is part of Wellcome’s international charitable work, “dedicated to improving health by supporting bright minds in science, the humanities and social sciences, and public engagement” and “independent of government and commercial interests.”

About the Author

Porter Anderson

Porter Anderson is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. Prior to that he was Associate Editor for The FutureBook, a channel at The Bookseller focused on digital publishing. Anderson has also worked with CNN International, CNN.com, CNN USA, the Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and other media.